7. Five Inches From The Bad Boy

C H A P T E R  7  :  W H E N  H E ' S  P L A Y I N G  H I S  P A R T

My friends might not be perfect or near or best but they are people with enough love in their hearts to defend the righteous and good. 

And that is why they come with those frayed edges and scratches, because to me what counts is a steady rhythm of love within their hearts.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

“Hey, wait up.” Flynn held her arm with one hand, planted the other on the table, and rose to his feet. He leaned in, giving her his smoldering look and the devilish smirk he always put on his lips whenever he was up to no good. “ have an idea to help you with —err, our thing. You see—”

A small frown appeared on the middle of his forehead as he noted the peeking purplish color from underneath the thick layer of makeup. At first, he had thought that some girls probably did not have mirrors at home or watched way too many YouTube tutorials videos but now, he was not so sure anymore. And for the first time ever, his smart tongue was tied. He forgot what he was about to say.

“What is it?” When he did not reply, she added, “Look, Flynn, I gotta go to class.”

“Oh. Okay.” He cleared his throat, shoving one of his hands into the front pocket of his pants. “I will see you in History later.”

Kelsey frowned as she tried to recall her classmates in History class. Once she was sure she had never seen him there, she replied, “You do not have History with me.”

Right. He forgot to tell her that he had swapped one of his classes again. Instead of simply telling her that, he leaned in and smirked. “Maybe, Sweetheart. But if you want, we can start making one now.”

She rolled her eyes and quickly left before he could see her smile. She was not sure why but she felt happier knowing that they had yet another class to share with. Previously she only had Bryson and Shane and with them leaving her, she could not help but feel a bit lonely. It was quite funny how someone who had been used to being alone since she was a kid was now feeling lonely just because she had not been alone for the last few years. Shoving the sad thought to the back of her mind, she went to her locker and picked up her book for her next class.

* * *

It turned out that History was not the only class that they shared. Kelsey was not sure how Flynn had done it but he had swapped his Physics class as well. He had been in Mrs. Watson’s class and yet here he was, strolling into her Physics class as if it was the most natural thing to do. Just like before, he handed a piece of paper from the school’s administration to Mr. Stanton and then sat on the table next to hers since the seat on the same table had been occupied by Monique Portman — one of the most dedicated students in the Northern High who did not give a damn who Kelsey was or the fact that the entire school had ostracized her for a few days now.

“I should have come sooner,” Flynn muttered under his breath. His voice was low but she had heard it.

Maintaining a blank look on her face, Kelsey paid her full attention to Mr. Stanton who was writing down an equation on the board, with her cheek rested against her palm. Once he was done, Mr. Stanton instructed his students to write the question down and solve it.

Kelsey opened her notebook and began writing. One minute later she had finished solving the question and put her pencil down then folded her arms on her desk and laid her head on her arms. She felt the tip of a pencil poke her forearm and looked up to her right to the person sitting on the table next to hers. She lifted one brow and simply stared at him, waiting for his explanation.

“Can I copy yours? Mrs. Watson has yet to go through this chapter.” Flynn told her sheepishly.

Kelsey laid her head back down and gave him a shrug. “Ask Mr. Stanton for help.”

“Asking Mr. Satan? How crazy do you think I am?” He let out a frustrated groan. “Come on.”

She bit her smile. She thought only her classmates and those who had been in Mr. Stanton called the killer Physics teacher using that nickname. It made her wonder again why would Flynn switch to this class when he was well aware of Mr. Stanton’s strict and straightforward way of teaching.

“You, New Guy, have you finished already?” Mr. Stanton asked aloud.

“Not yet.” He answered, pretending to write down the answer. Instead, he was tracing over the same writing he had already done.

“Then I do not understand why you are opening your mouth.”

Flynn scoffed at the teacher’s remark, he clearly was not impressed that this teacher did not simply back off like other teachers had done it before. Kelsey laid her left cheek on her arms, curiously fixing her attention on him, and laughed softly to herself when she saw his eyebrows crease in deep thought as he frowned and stared at his paper.

“You are damn helpless.” Kelsey shook her head then handed him her notebook. “You better not get me in trouble for this.”

His head turned to face her and a bright smile spread across his face when he saw her hand sticking her notebook out and quickly took it once he checked and made sure that Mr. Stanton was not looking at them before speedily copying down the answer in record’s time. Either he was fast in writing or he simply copied whatever and his writing was crappy. In less than one minute, he handed her notebook back to her and muttered a thank you.

“No worries,” she replied back then turned to stare ahead.

“Alright," Mr. Stanton broke the silence and everyone turned their attention to what he had to say. “Once you are done with that, we are going to have a mini quiz. Open your book at page one hundred eighty and do question number three to five.”

There was a uniform sound of the entire class flipping through the pages to get to page 180.

“Submit it to me by end of the class. Get to work or you will not be able to leave,” he added with a devilish smirk as he watched his students let out an exasperating groan. The man clearly loved to torture his student and that was probably one of the reasons why he had earned the special ‘Mr. Satan’ nickname was other than the fact that it was close to his real name Jebedian Stanton.

She rolled her eyes, finding it quite funny that her classmates’ reaction was the opposite of Monique’s reaction. Monique’s eyes practically sparkled when Mr. Stanton mentioned the word ‘quiz’,

Kelsey flipped her notebook and pulled a piece of paper from the middle and started working on the questions. Physics was her forte and in twenty minutes, she had completed the first two questions of the quiz.

“K, may I copy yours once you are done?” Flynn asked in a whispering level from beside her.

She glanced at the front of the classroom and saw Mr. Stanton was still engrossed with his laptop before turning back to Flynn and lifting one quizzical eyebrow at him. “Give it a try first. I do not think you will have enough time to copy.”

His face looked like he was in pain. “Ugh, fine.”

Kelsey bit her cheek to prompt herself from smiling as she focused her attention back on her paper.

* * *

Flynn went home with an uneasy feeling. There were tons of scenarios going through his mind about what might have happened to Kelsey and caused the bruise. Had she fallen from the stairs? She did not look clumsy but again he did not really know her that well. But the bruise looked a bit odd for someone who fell. Had someone hit her? Her sassy mouth could get her in trouble. Perhaps she messed with the wrong guy.

Flynn sighed and started walking up the stairs and prompted a second when the butler opened the door before letting himself in. He turned to the butler who greeted him at the front door as he handed his black leather jacket.

Jarvis, who was the forty-five years old butler that had been working for the Ascott for more than twenty years, nodded. Unlike other household staff, he knew that Flynn was adopted by the Ascott but being smart, he had never told a soul. After all, it was Nancy Ascott's (Flynn's adoptive mother) last request before she had died eight years ago — to keep Flynn's identity a secret.

Flynn walked towards the stairs then stopped halfway as if remembering something. "Is Tae Woo here?"

"Yes. Mr. Kim is waiting for you at your study at the moment."

With a sudden turn, Flynn changed his direction. Right before he went through the double doors, he looked at Jarvis over one shoulder. "You should stop calling us 'Sir', we are a lot younger than you. Just call him Taetae will do."

"Noted, Mas—" Flynn raised one brow and the man quickly corrected, “Well noted, Flynn."

Jarvis watched Flynn smile and get inside his study. He was not sure if being adopted was the reason Flynn was different than the other Ascott. Flynn always treated the staff as human beings and not someone who was paid to oblige his orders. The old man sighed as he folded the leather jacket in his hands and walked towards the stairs. Whatever the reason was, Jarvis would not be the one to tell him the truth. It was better this way. It was better than seeing the young master get hurt. 

* * *

Once he entered his study, his eyes immediately found his best friend cross-legged on the floor with a joystick in his hands. "Why can't you play at your own house?" he asked, pretending to sound annoyed although, in truth, he always liked Tae's company. Many people tried to be friends with him but most of them had their own agenda in mind, but not Kim Tae Woo.

"Ah, Hyung, you know I do not have an X-Box, " Tae paused his game, frowning, "or anything resembles fun, really." He placed the joystick on the floor in front of him then rose to his feet. "By the way, you said you'll come home after school to play Warframe with me. I have waited for you for two hours."

Flynn sat on the sofa and leaned forward. "Uh-huh. So you came here and decided to play with my X-Box?" Out of one corner of his eyes, he could see two boxes of pizza on the table. "And you even ordered pizza."

"Mom has not come home and there was nothing in the fridge, I have not eaten anything so Jeffries asked me if I needed anything," Tae opened the pizza box and took one slice, grinning. "I told him to order some pizza."

Watching his best friend eating the pizza as if it was his last meal, Flynn could only shake his head. He could never understand Tae and his love for pizza. Sure, it was good, better with cheese and pepperoni but he wouldn't eat pizza every day but his friend would jump at the offer anytime.

"Hyung, do you want some? I still got two slices of pepperoni and cheese," Tae paused as he opened the other box, "and three slices of pineapple and olives."

Flynn shook his head. "Nah. You can finish them all." Tae had not been born rich. His mother had to work her ass off to get him to school and to provide for the two of them. More than once, Flynn wanted to help them but he always ended up not doing so. Mainly because he was scared that Tae would feel offended and that would ruin their friendship.

Friendship was both fragile and strong, after all.

"Gomabseubnida, Hyung!"

"I have told you multiple times not to call me with that nickname. I am only three months older, for goodness's sake."

Tae smirked. "In the next life, if you happen to be younger than me, I'll let you call me Hyung too." He was about to take the last bite of his pizza when his hand stopped in midair. "By the way, I heard you changed class today. Why? I thought you took Spanish because you are already good at it and that way you do not need to study."

As if his mind knew what his heart wanted, Kelsey's face from their last meeting about an hour ago popped into his head. The memory of her brought back what she'd said earlier about finding her mom in France. It had been hard for Flynn to swallow any sarcastic commentaries he'd had in his mind. Not because he thought the idea was silly, hell, he himself had had that idea a long time ago when he was a kid. A kid who had just found out that he was adopted. No, it was merely because he knew she was only going to waste her time.

Not only that, she was going to get hurt, just like him when he'd found out that he had a twin brother and his mother chose his twin over him. It was true that there was only a small chance that Kelsey had a twin but what if her mother had other children besides her? What if her mother had left her and had other kids with someone else?

Flynn curled his fist and clenched his jaw. He should stop her before she had her dream shattered. He knew what she was probably hoping for a touching reunion, wishing her mother would hug her and never let go. Yet he also knew that that was not going to happen. This was real life, not a movie. And on top of that, people were selfish. They only cared for themselves.

"Okay, okay, fine. I won't call you Hyung anymore." Tae's voice brought Flynn back to reality. He looked up and watched his best friend raise both hands in defeat. "Starting today, I will call you Flynn, okay. Or do you prefer 'Young Master Ascott'?" Tae Woo imitated Jeffries.

“Tae Woo.”

His friend raised one brow. "Hmm?"

"Could you tell me anything you know about Kelsey Ferreira?"

Tae pouted. "I don't know much about her since she's the silent type."

That girl was truly a mystery. Flynn sighed.

"But," Tae grabbed his bag off the floor and sat beside Flynn. He pulled out his laptop and put it on his lap, turning it on.

He didn't want to sound hopeful but his voice betrayed him nonetheless. "But?"

"But I could look into the school's data." Tae grinned. "You know I'm good with computers, right?"

As Flynn leaned forward, his lips curled into a grin that matched Tae's.

* * *

By the time Kelsey got home, his drunk father was already on his third bottle sitting on the sofa in the living room, his eyes were barely opened. She tiptoed her way to the stairs, careful not to wake her father but apparently, the world had decided it was simply a bad day today as her knee accidentally knocked over the baseball bat leaning against the wall. Shit! Who even put that there?

His father grunted then growled before rising to his feet. Her feet were faster than her mind this time as they rushed her upstairs to her room. Kelsey quickly hid in her closet, hugging her knees, and trying her best to stay still and make no noise. Her heart beat faster and faster as she heard her father's heavy footsteps getting closer to her. The sound of the door being slammed was another indication that he was near. Kelsey bit her bottom lips and held her breath for what felt like the longest minute in her life.

* * *

Flynn knew something was wrong the second he heard the sound of the door being slammed and glass crashing. The front door was locked so he moved to the back of the house and got in through the backdoor. Another glass crashed down before another door was slammed but this time the sound came from the front of the house. Flynn watched a man leave the house while cursing like a drunken sailor.

Once he made sure the man would not come back, he climbed up the stairs and went into the first room on the left. Despite the room being ransacked and everything being thrown to the floor, he could tell that it belonged to a girl. He knew it was stupid and she probably would not hide under the bed but he kneeled anyway. He planted his head on the floor. No one was there. When he was about to move, he heard the sobbing. It was very low and barely audible but he could hear it, could almost feel the hard breathing.

Something told him it came from the closet and with his determined hand, he swung the door open and the first thing he heard nearly caused him to lose his hearing.

"No!"

He heard her scream at the top of her lungs while covering her head with both hands.

Flynn dropped to his knees and held her arm with one hand. "Kelsey, it is me. It is Flynn."

She continued to scream for another minute and he had to peel her hand off her face and made her see him before the screaming ceased. "F-F-Flynn?"

"Yeah." He put his arms around her and pulled her into his embrace. Her head leaned on his chest as her shoulders shaking and she started to cry. He continued to hold her, rubbing her arm up and down.

* * *

Flynn had brought her to his home and taken her into one of the guest rooms. On the drive here, he had been quiet. He hadn't asked anything and kept her eyes on the road. Kelsey was grateful for that. The last thing she needed was to have to talk about what had happened. It was never a good experience to talk about her father and she had been good at evading questions about him yet with Flynn, she was not sure she could do that. Why? She had no clue. He was simply different. The way his eyes regarded her, it was as if he was talking with her eyes. It was almost as if she could hide anything from the world but those eyes could always get through her walls and see her soul. And to be honest, it scared her a little.

He left for a while and came back with a First Aid Kit box. He put it on the bed beside her then said, “Here. Tend to your wound and if you need anything, just press the blue button on that remote,” he pointed at the remote on top of the nightstand, “and someone will be here to help you.” 

Kelsey nodded. She was at Flynn Ascott's house. Or maybe she should use the word mansion considering how big this building was. Everyone at her school would be jealous if they knew. She glanced at her hand which was not shaking anymore then glanced up, catching the sight of Flynn about to leave the room. "Hey, Flynn," she called on him.

He held the door with one hand and looked over his shoulder. "Yeah?"

"Thank you." Kelsey clasped her hands together and put them on her lap. "Can I ask something?"

Flynn shrugged one shoulder, giving her the green light.

"Why do you care?" Her voice sounded so low and she was not sure he could hear her since his face remained expressionless. "Why do you care about me? Why did you help?"

He did not say anything for a full minute then his eyes held hers. "I do not." He took a step back, his hand on the handle. "I am just that good at playing my part."

Kelsey watched him take another step back. Her lips parted to say something - she wasn't sure what, it might have been just his name-then the door closed behind him, and she realized it was too late. He had left.

Kelsey sat on the bed then slowly brought her back down on the soft mattress. He did not care. He had done exactly what she had told him to do, she thought. This was what she wanted, right? For him to play the fool who fell madly in love with her while she continued to reject him. Then why was there a part of her that wanted this to be real? That part that hurt hearing his words. This made no sense at all.

Her finger reached for the lamp switch and turned it off. Kelsey then turned over, burying her face in the pillow, and tried her best to fall asleep.